Calls in Pakistan for execution of Christian Aasia Bibi and other ‘blasphemers’

A Pakistani religious group is demanding the immediate execution of a Christian woman on death row and all others convicted under the country’s harsh blasphemy law.

Small groups from the Sunni Tehrik movement held demonstrations in different Pakistani cities Friday warning the government against any attempt to amend the blasphemy law.

In Rawalpindi and Lahore, the group leaders demanded the execution of Aasia Bibi, who was convicted of blasphemy by a court in 2010. Her appeal was dismissed by the Lahore High Court in 2014, but the supreme court stayed her execution in 2015 suspending the high court verdict.

Governor Salman Taseer of Punjab and minority minister Shahbaz Bhatti were murdered in 2011 after speaking in support of Ms Bibi and calling for reform of Pakistan’s blasphemy law.